Time is broken
Jamie Poole has experienced a lifetime of supernatural events. She found an inexplicable alabaster statue. She tracked down an absent dad (who is conveniently an archaeologist) to help her understand its origin. (Spoiler: They don't figure it out quite yet.) She resurrected a Druidess with a remarkable likeness to the image on the statue. In her defense, that was an accident. However, to admit such a thing, you must realize that Jamie is anything but ordinary. Nor is her life. She grew up hearing Voices of the Dead. For years they've begged her to right an injustice that happened almost 1500 years before her birth. You see, they were murdered. They want her to prevent their murders.
They want her to prevent an event that happened 1500 years before her birth.
If you think Time runs in a linear path, think again. Doctor Who explains it best in this quote.
Things are about to get a bit wibbly-wobbly.
To this point things have gone straightforward for Jamie. She has grown up and gone off to university. Sure, she's still haunted by Voices, but that doesn't mean life stops, right? At least she tried to assume she could lead a normal life. While she sat in boring university lectures, Voices swirled about her head, begging for attention. She did everything to ignore them.
If you're wondering why she ignored them, that's a good question we'll get to.
Her first university summer project took her to Hell's Creek Formation in Eastern Montana. That's a real place, if you're wondering. They filmed Jurassic Park there.
Not only did Jamie and her classmates excavate a T-Rex, which is pretty spectacular, she also unearthed Lumen, an otherworldly relic that takes the form of a sword. This sword is considered to have been forged by Tubal-Cain 6000 years ago. It is possessed through the ages by chosen women who are called to use it for good. Lumen can never be used in unjust causes. The last time Jamie saw Lumen, it had been in Eliyana's possession just before she jumped back in Time. If you've forgotten who Eliyana is, she's the resurrected Druidess.
If by now you're head is spinning, imagine how Jamie is feeling. She thought Eliyana was going to return and help her with the issue about the Voices. They keep begging her to come "fix Time."
How does one "fix Time"? How does Time break?
And where is she supposed to "come to"? (OK, that's bad grammar, but they keep saying come, come, come...)
Not to give away too many spoilers, Jamie left us in Tome of Tubal-Cain wondering all these things. Who broke Time and why? And if she goes about "fixing" Time as if something like that is easy-peasy, what if she breaks it worse than it already is? Is she playing God? What are the ramifications? There must be ramifications.
Welcome to the prelude to the next book in the Jamie Poole series: Destiny of the Departed. The Voices have not ceased. If anything they are louder because she's spent so much effort trying to ignore them. How can she help from the future? It's impossible, right? She compares their pleas to something between a Gregorian chant and Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody on high speed. Take a moment to ponder that.
If you need a moment longer, savor the sounds.
So here we are at the beginning of the next chapter in Jamie's life. She's been called by the Departed to fix Time. Lumen is both a key and an invitation. Remember, it helped Eliyana travel back in Time, but how did it appear in Hell's Creek?
This is a turning point for Jamie as we race toward the answers. The answers could take Jamie into the past if she can stop ignoring the Voices and start listening. They might be offering suggestions. Then again, they might be stuck like a record, looping over and over.
If you enjoy historical fiction with an extra dose of supernatural weirdness and time travel, hold on to your hat. And don't step on the butterflies. The Butterfly Effect is only one paradox staring Jamie straight in the face. Time travel is not for the faint of heart. Does she have what it takes to attempt a journey? Save the unjustly killed AND fix Time. It's not a small request.
Everything, and I mean everything, hangs in the balance now.
